suddenlycaptain | CONTACT ;; ataraxion

Wait.

[What's new? But he doesn't mean anything like indefinitely, this time.]

Only just shaking up. [A beat.] Got a transmission, number I didn't know.

Come and find me?

[ She's more unsettled than she wants to be, and it makes more sense to wait together as far as she's concerned. ]

What did it say?

Already know where you are.

[aka: watching you.]

Heard enough to get it was a distress message.

[Not much more, except the fact it sounded like Vaako, but she doesn't need to know that.]

[ Well. She's just going to whistle for your dog, then. Come here puppy. You can get scritches and Riddick can be jealous. ]

Shepard isn't answering her comm.

[There's a few moments of silence while he pulls a disgruntled face at how quickly the dog just ran off.]

She knew the risks.

[ h e h ]

She did. She's also better equipped to deal with them than most people on this ship.

[ Carolyn's not going to be happy if they lose her. ]

You know how much difference that makes.

[As in: not much.]

Unfortunately.

[ The jackal is getting the ear rubs of a lifetime, Carolyn resisting the urge to put her face in his fur. She sighs instead, shifting a little so that the dog's head can rest on her lap. ]

I keep seeing Owens. I know it's not real, but- [ but she killed him, he was out of his seat because he was trying to stop her from killing the rest and he won't leave her alone. ]

[There's a pause, wondering why she's telling him this. If he should tell her about Kyra. But he doesn't talk about his dreams, he never has.]

Then you know to not listen.

Right now I do.

[ Matine should have known. But something had happened to her out there. Carolyn remembers seeing things through her eyes all too well. ]

They want us to go out there.

[As in: maybe Carolyn should stay here, if she's concerned about that.]

They always do.

[ This is no different than any other time. She'll go. ]

Ain't usually waiting for us to make the choice.

It knows people will follow the ones that are already out there.

And you're gonna be one of them.

Yeah, I am.

Letting that survival instinct slip, Carolyn?

[Not that he wasn't considering going out himself, already starting to think that moving was looking like their better option these days. But he likes to make her say these things first.]

No.

[ The response is immediate, like the jaws of his jackal snapping closed on bone -- though the creature seems quite content to just listen as she pets him. ]

But sitting here isn't doing anything. It doesn't give us anything to work with.